They face problems together. – A person who truly knows and loves you – a real friend – is someone who sees the pain in your eyes while everyone else still believes the smile on your face. Don’t look for someone who will solve all your problems; look for someone who will face them with you.

They believe in each other. – Simply believing in another person, and showing it in your words and deeds, can make a huge difference in their life. Studies of people who grew up in dysfunctional homes but who grew up to be happy and successful show that the one thing they had in common was someone who believed in them. Do this for those you care about. Support their dreams and passions and hobbies. Participate with them. Cheer for them. Be nothing but encouraging. Whether they actually accomplish these dreams or not, your belief is of infinite importance to them.

Last Thursday, I met an old friend in Hartford for dinner, and then went back to her new place to listen to music, hang out with her cat Momo, and have a seizure on her couch.

Okay, that last bit wasn't actually in the schedule of planned events. The truth is, though, that with multiple sclerosis, I don't really get to write my own schedule, and while it's been over two years since my last seizure, they're always possible.

With MS, all things are possible, my neurologist likes to tell me. I think it's funny, too, but it's also a good reminder: nothing about this disease is actually static.

Chion is a friend from what I always think of as my first life: I met her when I was growing up in Connecticut, before I left for the military. She knew me best when I was very young, very healthy, and for a brief time, we were in love. She knew my body when it was close to its peak of health -- before my disease began making serious inroads.

Between all the travel I've done for the military and afterward, she's missed seeing the largest chunks of my illness, which comes and goes. I live in Baltimore, so I only visit Connecticut when I'm healthy; I can't make the five-hour drive when I'm not feeling well.

She might have seen me once with my cane. I can't really remember, but only once, if then, and even so, if I had made it to Connecticut, I was doing really well on my cane. The point being, she knows I have MS, but she's never actually seen my disease, and there are miles between those two things.

Late last week, I was leaning on Chi's railing in Hartford, and we were talking. She was trying to bring up some episodes of a YouTube show created by Caitlin Doughty, who had been on the radio show Chi works on (did I mention Chion works in public radio? GEEK GIRL SWAGGER).

I suddenly felt cold and shaky, and noticed that all my sensory information was beginning to feel as though it was coming to me through a filter -- like an Instagram photo, slightly askew and faded. This is my aura, the roughly one-or-two-minute warning I get before I have a seizure. I’m grateful to get such a dramatic, if somewhat nauseating warning of what’s ahead.

I made my way to the couch, and sat down. "I almost have this up," she said. "You want to see?"

"Yes," I said, calmly. "First, though, I'm going to have small seizure. It's fine, and I'll be fine, and it'll be over in about a minute, OK?"

The photo up top was taken by the chief steward of the German ocean linerSS Prinz Adalbert, which on Apr. 15 was sailing through the North Atlantic mere miles away from where theTitanichad sunk the night before. At the time, the chief steward hadn’t yet learned of theTitanic‘s fate, so he wasn’t even on the lookout for icebergs. He simply spotted a streak of red paint along the iceberg’s base, which most likely meant a ship had collided with it in the last 12 hours.

If you were to trace the story of the Titanic to its earliest human origins, you couldn’t really go much further back than 1907, when the White Star Lines first drew up plans to build the three largest ocean liners the world had even seen: Olympic, Titanic, and Gigantic, which was later renamed Britannic and sank in the Mediterranean during World War I. From conception to sinking, the Titanic really only lasted about five years, although obviously its memory has endured far longer.

But by comparison, the iceberg began its slow journey to the North Atlantic over three thousand years ago. Again, we can only guess at the exact details, but the story likely began with snowfall on the western coast of Greenland somewhere around 1,000 BCE. After a few months, this snow has been turned into a more compacted form called firn, which then over subsequent decades is compressed into dense ice by the weight of newer snow on top of it.

In recent decades, one of the great grassroots movements of the twentieth century built a raft of protections designed to help abused women. These included a sprawling network of community shelters, gun restrictions for abusers, protection orders, and the nation’s first federal anti-domestic violence legislation, the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). Yet, despite this sustained effort—and even as overall homicides have plummeted nationwide—victims of domestic violence like Jo’Anna Bird are today killed in basically the same numbers as they were about 15 years ago. Between 40 and 50 percent of female homicide victims are killed by their husbands, boyfriends, and exes. And, for about half of these victims, police had been alerted to previous incidents of abuse.

There is, however, one exception to this grim trend: Maryland. Since 2007, domestic violence homicides in the state have fallen by a stunning 40 percent. What is Maryland doing that other states are not? The answer appears to lie with a former high school nurse, an ex-Washington, D.C., police lieutenant, and their ground-breaking efforts to protect the most vulnerable victims of abuse.

Monday, April 23, 2012

A soccer ball that bobbed onto the shore of a remote Alaska island is likely the first salvageable debris from last year's Japanese tsunami that could be returned to its owner, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The ball, found on Alaska's Middleton Island, bears writing that identifies its place of origin, said Doug Helton, operations coordinator for NOAA's Office of Response and Restoration, which is tracking debris from the tsunami.

According to a translation provided by Tokyo-based journalists, the ball is from the Osabe School in the Iwate Prefecture, an area that was hit by the devastating tidal wave unleashed March 11 by the magnitude 9 earthquake off Japan's northeastern coast, Helton said Sunday.Click here to read more.

There are times when it is important to remove or obliterate an animal carcass from locations such as recreation areas where a carcass might attract bears, at a popular picnic area where the public might object, or along the side of roads or trails. Large animal carcasses can be particularly difficult to remove, especially if they are located below a steep cut slope or in remote areas.
Explosives have successfully been used by qualified blasters to partially or totally obliterate large animal carcasses (horses, mules, moose, etc.). It is important to consider location, time of year, and size of the carcass when selecting the quantity and type of explosive to accomplish the obliteration task. Consult a qualified blaster when explosives are to be used.
The following examples illustrate partial obliteration (dispersion) for a horse that weighs about 1,100 pounds (453.6 kilograms). In the first example, urgency is not a factor. Perhaps a few days are expected before the public is to visit the area, or perhaps bears will not be attracted to the carcass. In any case, in this example, dispersion is acceptable.

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Dorothy: ''That nice George Johnson asked me out for a date. I know you went out with him last week, and I wanted to talk with you about him before I give him my answer.''Edna: ''Well, I'll tell you. He shows up at my apartment punctually at 7 P.M., dressed like such a gentleman in a fine suit, and he brings me such beautiful flowers! Then he takes me downstairs, and what's there but a luxury car...A limousine, uniformed chauffeur and all. Then he takes me out for dinner... A marvelous dinner... Lobster,champagne, dessert and after-dinner drinks.Then we go see a show. Let me tell you, Dorothy, I enjoyed it so much I could have just died from pleasure!

So then we are coming back to my apartment and he turns into an ANIMAL. Completely crazy, he tears off my expensive new dress and has his way with me two times!'' Dorothy: ''Goodness gracious!... So are you telling me I shouldn't go out with him?'' Edna: ''No, no, no... I'm just saying, wear an old dress.''

The Air Force, which had dispatched fighter jets to monitor the twin-engine Cessna 421, reported it crashed about 12:10 p.m., said Lt. Cmdr. Christopher O'Neil, a Coast Guard spokesman. The aircraft had been circling over the Gulf about 200 miles south of Panama City, Florida, another spokesman, Chief Petty Officer John Edwards, told CNN.

The plane took off from Slidell, Louisiana, en route to Sarasota, Florida, with a single pilot on board, a Federal Aviation Administration source told CNN. It had been circling at an altitude of about 28,000 feet.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Officials near Conundrum Hot Springs have a literal conundrum on their hands -- what to do with several frozen cows stuck in a cabin?

The six cows are wedged inside a small cabin. The Colorado Cattlemen's Association said the cows likely wandered in seeking shelter during a storm and weren't able to figure out how to get back out and starved to death.

Two U.S. Air Force Academy cadets made the discovery while hiking Conundrum Pass between Aspen and Crested Butte in late March. The cadets tell 7NEWS they initially thought they stumbled upon a sleeping bear.

"We decided we were going to snowshoe to Conundrum Hot Springs near Aspen," said cadet Marshall Kay, 21, a junior at the Air Force Academy.

"When I walked up to the doorway there was a head," said junior Air Force cadet Cameron Harris, 20. "It scared me. I thought it was a bear initially."

"Cameron got there first and he says, 'Ah, I think we're going to have to sleep on the snow tonight, man. The cabin's full of frozen cows,'" said Kay.

"There's no way we're staying here tonight. The floor is covered," said Harris to Kay during their hike. "And he's like, 'What are you talking about?' and I was like, 'Well, there's dead cows in here.'"

"I didn't know what the heck he was talking about," said Kay.

"For us, it was quite odd. Everything was weird for us at the beginning.,” Harris said. “I mean, we're two Texas boys.”

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Monday, April 16, 2012

1. Sometimes I'll look down at my watch/phone 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.

2. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.

3. There is great need for a sarcasm font.

4. Was learning cursive really necessary?

5. MapQuest really needs to start their directions on # 5. I'm pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

6. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.

7. Bad decisions make good stories.

8. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you know that you just aren't going to do anything productive for the rest of the day.

9. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after Blue Ray? I don't want to have to restart my collection ... again.

10. I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten-page technical report that I swear I did not make any changes to.

11. I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.

12. I think the freezer deserves a light as well.

13. I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Light than Kay.

14. I wish Google Maps had an "Avoid Ghetto" routing option.

15. I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

16. How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear or understand a word they said?

17. I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars team up to prevent a jerk from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers and sisters!

18. Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.

19. Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, finding their cell phone, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey - but I'd bet everyone can find and push the snooze buttonfrom 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time, every time.

20. The first testicular guard, the "Cup," was used in Hockey in 1874 and the first helmet was used in 1974. That means it only took 100 years for men to realize that their brain is also important.

So you want to take some fun photos with your best buddy/celebrity friends - but there's just one problem - you're a nobody and have absolutely no connection with these stars...

No sweat! We've got the solution for you. Just Photoshop them in!

This hilarious set, titled "My Holiday Party," was created by ingenious man of the year, Everett Hiller. "Every year my wife and I throw a party and when I send out the photos I add famous people," he says.